References - Books

Gannet From The Cockpit by Simon Askins

ISBN 978-0-946958-63-4

Published by Ad Hoc Publications

In common with other books in this series, this is a weighty
softback biased towards large photos interspersed with stories from those who flew the type, and brief development and service history
sections. Each squadron gets brief coverage with a selection of photos and colour profiles. Some of the photos you will have seen in other
Gannet books - but at least these familiar faces are reproduced well, and often in page-filling size! The only criticism I could offer
is that the layout is a bit chaotic, with stories and photos appearing in somewhat random fashion (certainly no chronological ordering).
In general though an excellent volume and thoroughly recommended.

Submarine Hunter by Ben Patynowski

ISBN 8389450577

Published by Mushroom Model Publications

A strange one, this. Basically a book full of reminiscences from RAN veterans who
worked on or flew in Gannets (plus several who did not - quite why they are in the book I don't know), with lots and lots of photos fairly evenly split between
shots of Gannets and shots of people (often as they are now rather than when they were in the RAN), plus a selection of colour profile drawings. Many of the
stories told are duplicated; many of the anecdotes clearly need editing, and come across as 'copy and paste' jobs from emails or letters. As a collection of
memories for the ex-RAN personnel involved to enjoy, it's a great book. As a general reference on the Gannet, it's pretty weak - the photo selection is
excellent but most are reproduced quite small; the colour profiles are nicely done but exhibit various minor errors (and one big one, on every single profile -
compare the exhaust location with photos!). Given the publisher's name you'd expect it to be more aimed at modellers than any other market, but
there's really nothing in here other than the photos and profiles to help modellers - no detail shots, no plans, no colour scheme details or histories, etc.
Finally, and most oddly, for a book titled 'Submarine Hunter' there is is absolutely nothing on the tactics or procedures involved in this particular task - it is just
a collection of relatively shallow anecdotes. Accidents and problems obviously stand out clearly in people's memories so the accounts are weighted towards that
sort of story. Hard to recommend as a reference work - however, if you were in the RAN at the time, definitely worth a read, and as a collection of photos of RAN Gannets
in a single publication it cannot be beaten.

ISBN 978-80-86637-04-4

Published by 4+

Absolutely superb monograph for modellers - a detailed history, loads of photos (mostly monochrome), accurate 1/72 scale plans and lots of colour profiles. Good coverage of
German and Australian Gannets as well as British ones. Highly recommended.

Warpaint No. 23 - Fairey Gannet by Steve Hazell

ISSN 1361-0369

Published by Hall Park Books Ltd.

Up to the usual standard of Warpaint volumes, with good history and selection of photos (worth getting for these alone), scale plans (but
you can't really rely on them - several errors evident) and basic colour profiles (watch out for the errors in these too - use photos
as reference). Out of print but can be had second hand.

Gannet by Brian Fiddler

ISBN 0 948251 46 8

Published by Picton Publishing (Chippenham) Ltd.

Brief development and service history, but
mostly this book is dedicated to listing the squadrons that operated the Gannet (including RAAN and
Indonesian examples), with lots of monochrome pictures. Finishes with many annotated pictures of
the cockpit, closeup pictures, scale plans and profile drawings for modellers. Worth getting hold of if you can find a cheap copy.

References - Magazines

AIR Pictorial May 1970: The Fairey Gannet by Elfan ap Rees - 5 page article
covering development & service history with a good selection of small monochrome pictures.

AIR Pictorial February 1977: Gannet's Nest by Alan B. Carlaw - a look at the
Gannets of 894 NAS at Lossiemouth

FlyPast April 1997: Gannet U.S.A. - article on XT752's return to the air with some
superb pictures.

Scale Aircraft Modelling July 1986 (Vol 8 No 10): Aircraft In Detail - Fairey Gannet -
excellent article on the Gannet's development and service history with lots of
monochrome pictures and lots of profile drawings. Well worth seeking out.

Scale Aircraft Modelling September 1991 (Vol 13 No 12): Inside Story - Fairey Gannet AEW.3 -
detail pictures of Newark's XP226 (which also makes up many of the pictures in the detail
galleries here), including cockpit shots.

Credits

This section would have been greatly the poorer without contributions from the following - so many thanks to (in
alphabetical order):

I may have been seing things but I am sure there is a Gannet at a Further Education College on the Wirral - you cannot miss it - I suppose you must know about it - is it the same one at Ellesmere Port - it has always intrigued me when driving past - cheers

David Chapman-Andrews from Exmouth EX8 2PZ

Posted at 8:35pm on Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

Please can anyone send me 20-30 seconds of Gannet engine audio on a CD so that i can add it to my 8mm cine-film of FAA 810 Sqn Gannet AS Mk4 onboard A/C HMS Centaur in 1960.

Dave Frances from Nuneaton

Posted at 2:08pm on Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Thanks for a good site that has brought back memories, i served on 703x flight (Gannet Experimental) at RNAS FORD, in the 50s, untill it got it's C of A
in 55.

Nick Parker from Glos

Posted at 4:57pm on Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Great and very informative website - could you point me towards details of assisted escape seat fited to Gannet AEW 3 as mod as I am trying to locate items to rebuild it. I own collection of Ejection and escape seats -see flicker. Aeroplane Data Base Aricle on Gannet very good as well (Oct 83)Cheers Nick

David Lester from Hampshire

Posted at 3:21pm on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

An excellent website in all respects. I have used it for my own research into Naval Aviation frequently and now added as a link to my local Aviation Group.